Quote: Those who disparage and belittle the Church of Satan to an obsessive degree reveal their fetish. In reality and practice, by their consuming interest, they reveal their true religion to be—the Church of Satan. Otherwise, they would turn on their heel, walk away, and refuse to subject themselves to that which they need not. Clearly, they need us. We don’t need them.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------From: THE WORLD’S MOST POWERFUL RELIGION by Anton Szandor LaVey

While re-reading this passage it really struck home. Over the last few months there has been an increase in shit-disturbers and general idiots who cannot seem to leave the Church of Satan or its members well enough alone. The above passage really defines the whole reason why. So the next time you notice someone paying a little too much attention to us... you can just sit back and smile knowing full well that they are just wasting their time and accomplishing nothing of significance in their life.

What boggles my mind is that these people stay in business. I am referring to certain "churches" that I will not dignify with naming here.Their silly websites remind me of the Ides of March...they pay tribute to Anton LaVey while stabbing his memory in the back.

Indeed, this particular breed of CoS/LaVey baiter is one of my pet peeves. People that vehemently rant and rave to anyone that will listen that the good docktor was this or that (We all know the textbook baiting routines by now, they are never original) while at the same time attempting to live by a philosophy he codified.This behavior is interesting in that it displays all 9 Satanic sins at one time.

_________________________ "One thing I have learned in a long life: that all our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike and yet it is the most precious thing we have." - Albert Einstein
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Party A says: "You're gay cuz you suck and I dont and thats just the way it is" to make himself feel better about his waste of a life, because he knows he has no real ability to fix anything that's wrong with him.

Party B starts a group that facilitates such idiocy, and broadcasts it no less

Party A tells his friend, C, that he found a new group to be a part of that is ten times better than whatever the original is (...Church of Satan), and C, being friends with A is probably just as pathetic and mindless as A and jumps on, with no knowledge of either side, and in the end all you have is a giant pit in your yard full of idiots screaming with angst and no decent way to relieve themselves.

Then again, we're sitting here complaining about them, giving them things to talk shit about. Definitely a no-win situation. Next thing you know their new thing will be "God all they do is sit around and bitch about us", and again with the sycophant remarks. Because that's what we are right, a big group of sycophants and LaVey groupies?

What I've noticed is that a lot of the most virulant CoS-baiting is a bunch of 2nd hand claims spouted from people that have read certain sites on the internet.

"The Church of Satan is rudderless and lacking in direction since LaVey died."Strange that people latch onto this rumour as there's a wealth of evidence out there even to the layman that the CoS is alive, well and thriving. Even just viewing this site shows a great many Satanists co-operating for mutual benefit.

"The Church of Satan only has a couple of hundred members."Where do people get these figures? Surely a more cliched one would be to say that the CoS only has 666 members? Certainly due to CoS secrecy they can only be entirely uneducated guesses,

"The Church of Satan are arrogant individuals who believe that only their Satanism is the true Satanism." This one's right on the money. 'Arrogance' is probably not the most accurate term, but anyone making that accussation as an attack simply hasn't grasped what Satanism is about.

"LaVey was a con man."An excellent con man. He conned all the right people.

Quote:"The Church of Satan only has a couple of hundred members."Where do people get these figures? Surely a more cliched one would be to say that the CoS only has 666 members? Certainly due to CoS secrecy they can only be entirely uneducated guesses,

A lot of the "breakaway" groups seem to have built in warning signs into their titles that just scream out pseudo. "The Satanic Reds" are one of the more amusing examples. Satanism doesn't have a political identity, but the individuality defying doctrines of Communism certainly can't be reconciled with Satanic thought. Communism is basically Christian ethics applied to politics. The last thing a Satanist needs is the myth of equality enshrined in law more than it already is.

"The Church Of Satanic Liberation". "The Satanic Kindred Organisation". The next thing will no doubt be "The Church Of Satanic Egalitarianism". Ooops! There I go giving out such good ideas.

One site, while claiming to follow what the CoS was originally supposed to be like, has had affiliation with NAMBLA, and if you read their faq section, believe that the age of consent is when a person reached puberty.

How far off track, and how damaging to the name of Satanism are they trying to get?

Yes, I have run into the people who seem to have been rooting constantly through the anti-CoS material, and for whatever reason, have fallen in love with it. There could be an infinite number of motives behind this. Many of these people seem to want to practice their own brand of (pseudo)Satanism and devil worship and feel peeved at the CoS for not sharing its toys with them, or they realize at some level that they fall below the "Satanic bar," despite their yearnings to reach for it.

Then, there are those who aren't really involved with Satanism or pseudo-Satanism much, yet, for whatever reason, like to think the worst things possible about LaVey and the CoS. Jesus was a great teacher, Buddha was too, and oh, that LaVey guy was a carnie huckster.

Besides that, many of the vehement anti-CoSers I've observed seem to fall into two central groups: the first group consists of those who fell below the "Satanic bar" and are mad that the bar won't and can't come down to meet where they're at, while the second consists primarily of those who had certain standards for the CoS or for Satanists--such as that everybody in the CoS was going to be really bright or really elite, etc.,--and were let down.

A subgroup of the second group consists of those who actually have a vendetta or a beef against one or two CoS members, but who have extended that dislike to encompass the whole church.

I have known a few people who gracefully and nobly left the CoS and/or decided that they weren't even Satanists, so I am not implying that all who don't identify with the CoS or with Satanism are automatically grouped in with the aforementioned crybabies and gits. But these people knew who/what to blame and who/what not to blame for various failings and problems, and took responsibility for their own roles in that. They were able to brush the dust from their feet and move on entirely. They just realized that the CoS didn't have the keys to the door they wanted to open, and, speaking words of wisdom, let it be.

The crybabies and gits, meanwhile, blame others for everything, resent the CoS for not meeting all of their standards and fulfilling every single one of their dreams, and, most revealing of all, continue to hang around and continue to stress about the crappy CoS and all those shitty Satanists, days, weeks, years, and even DECADES later.

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"Gentlemen, the verdict is guilty, on all ten counts of first-degree stupidity. The penalty phase will now begin."--Divine, "Pink Flamingos."